How we know Olga is ready to return to school

When her own blog careens from the First Lady of Bulgaria to observations of Max the Wonder-Labradoodle:

They’re Pinky and the Brain…
Max, labradoodle of doom, destroyer of worlds, has one toy which is his favorite in all the world: a squeaky hot pink ball which may have had legs at one point. Max and Mr. Squeaky, don’t you know. Max will come up to any sitting person and drop it in their lap, and will wait for practically forever for us to throw Mr. Squeaky.

However, keeping track of Mr. Squeaky is not as easy as one might think, considering his bright hue. You see, Mr. Squeaky likes to escape. He rolls under the couch! Into closets! Under the icon table! He loves small spaces. And Max loves to try and dig him out, although all he succeeds in doing in ripping out the under layer of the couch. So he gets depressed, because he misses Mr. Squeaky.

Mr. Squeaky is, in fact, the cunning and ever-watchful-for-an-opportunity Brain. Max is an obvious fit for Pinky.

With those two around, we never have need for television.

*bounce bounce skid SLAM*

Dad: “Oh no! Mr. Squeaky has escaped AGAIN!”

*bounce bounce SKID SKID WHACK SKID BARK*

D: “Again he escapes under the couch!”

*bounce SMACK*

D: “Maybe you should just avoid the couch, Max.”

*bounce bounce bounce WHAM! BANG! SKID SKID SKID OF DOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

Ad nauseum

Actually, Max really is a lost soul without the comforting presence of Mr. Squeaky. And, truth be told, we are only a few days from Olga returning to her school. Marina, flushed from her First-in-Class-finish at the Feral Cow Home School, also begins college in earnest at the local community college. Both girls started there, then they get to go off to a place of their choosing. So we’ll still have Marina around, but the end is clearly in sight. Maybe, just maybe, my wife and I will have to get our own Mr. Squeaky. Just for entertainment purposes, of course.

Mr. Squeaky update: having come out from under the couch, Monsieur S. was bouncing down the hall when he unexpectedly detoured into the kitchen, landing in the dog’s water bowl just as one of the cats had his head down in it, snatching a quick drink.

We are always told not to laugh at the misfortunes of others, but honestly, there is nothing quite so gratifying as the look on a cat’s face when he is unexpectedly drenched by a hot pink rubber ball.